Leno moves to prime time

Rachel Gordon, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, April 1, 1998

1998-04-01 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Less than three hours after Mark Leno got the official call that he was Mayor Brown's pick to fill a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors, he took a quiet tour of City Hall.

He looked over the well-worn furniture in his soon-to-be office, introduced himself to staffers and hugged the ones he already knew, filled out some paperwork and spent a few minutes trying out the leather chair he's been assigned in the legislative chambers. He took a deep breath and grinned.

"I could get used to this," he said Tuesday at 10 minutes past noon.

Leno, 46, has never held elective office. Instead, he has spent time as a behind-the-scenes player, championing and raising money for other candidates and causes, from AIDS services and the new gay community center to the Holocaust Museum and the Democratic Party. Now, he's center stage in San Francisco's political arena and will face voters in a short seven months.

He downplays the notion that he hungered to be a supervisor, saying that he loved his role as civic activist, small business advocate and prolific fund-raiser. But it is no secret that he was disappointed when Brown passed him over to fill previous vacancies on the board and hemmed and hawed this time around before giving Leno the nod.

Tuesday, Leno was brimming with excitement when Brown ended five months of speculation over who would replace Susan Leal on the board after she was elected city treasurer.

"It's an honor and a privilege," he said of the appointment.

Leno probably won't take the oath of office for another two to three weeks. But he'll have plenty to do before then: hire aides, make sure his business, Budget Signs Inc., is in order before he plunges headfirst into the supervisor's job, and tie up loose ends with any philanthropic projects he's working on that he is sure to put on the back burner.

Assemblywoman Carole Migden, whom Leno considers his political mentor, sang his praises as a capable, generous and hard-working person, but cautioned he might be in for a few surprises.

"I told him you have to act through the veneer of cynicism that the public has about elected officials," Migden said.

Board of Supervisors President Barbara Kaufman said she was confident he would excel in his new job, and as the owner of a small business who had to meet payroll every week, would approach the task with common sense.

Just about everyone who has met Leno describes him as a nice guy, bright, loaded with enthusiasm and sincerity. Migden suggested those traits could come back to bite him during his early days on The City's 11-member legislative body.

"When decisions have to be made, and tenants want one thing and landlords want another, he might have trouble keeping his footing at first," she said. "I don't think it will be as easy for him as it is for me to kiss off that one for this one."

Leno said his goal was to forge compromise, if not consensus.

"If you look at the most contentious issues that come before the board, the issue really is, "How can we work this out so that everyone can get along?' " he said.

"Whether it's the neighborhoods versus downtown, a new immigrant population going up against a more established one, whether it's homeowners or renters, it's often about saving your own skin. I think there are more equitable ways to go about solving conflicts," he said.

Leno was one of three candidates for the post who reportedly were on Brown's short list, and has won praise in The City's diverse political circles. And if there's any cloud over his head, it's his gender. Of the five appointments Brown has made to the board, four have been male.

"Mark Leno's a great guy, and he's done a lot for the community," said Kathleen Dowling, president of the San Francisco chapter of the National Political Women's Caucus. "But we are very disappointed the mayor didn't appoint a woman. Now, there are seven men and four women on the board. That's not at all representative of San Francisco."

Even Leal, who praised Leno's credentials, calling him a

"credit to himself, the mayor and The City," said she was concerned that the mayor had picked a man as her replacement. Both she and Dowling said women brought a different perspective to politics, and often carried a different agenda that focused more on the everyday needs of women, such as child care, pay equity and health care.

Brown said several times during the selection process that he wanted to name a lesbian Latina to the board to mirror Leal's demographics. He said he couldn't find the right person to fill the bill. The controversy wasn't lost on Leno, who's gay and the grandson of Jewish Russian immigrants.

"I know I'm not the mayor's first choice, but I hope I was one of the top Jewish, gay male, small businessmen," he joked.

Leno, who is single, lost his partner of 10 years, Douglas Jackson, to AIDS in 1990. He is a homeowner in Noe Valley and came to San Francisco 21 years ago from New York at the invitation of his sister, who was attending Stanford.

Leno moved into a one-bedroom apartment in the Tenderloin and took a job as a salesman in a men's clothing boutique. A short time later he heard about a business opportunity to print signs on a letter press. With a $15,000 loan, he launched his business, which now has 10 full-time, part-time and contract employees.

"My business is a necessity, and I enjoy it, but my passion isn't in signs," he said. "My passion is the selling of ideas or a belief which is dear to me.

"I've never had a grand scheme for my life, but I've been fortunate, and now I'm going to use what I know in a new direction." &lt;

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